Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you've been under quarantine for the last two weeks and own a Nintendo Switch, then Animal Crossing: New Horizons is definitely the game to play.

There is no boss or goal in this game, but essentially a means of progression. That's why it's a good idea to complete simple objectives day-by-day. I've been playing actively, so throughout the next month, I'll be progressively updating this post. For now, I will update my progress leading up to building the Museum, the Shop, and various other goals.

WEEK 1

DONATE 5 FISH/BUGS TO TOM NOOK FOR STUDY

Construct a flimsy fishing rod and flimsy net (collect tree branches) using Tom Nook's DIY bench in order to collect all the bugs and fish that you'll encounter while exploring your island. You will need to find five unique specimen.

After donating, Tom Nook will give you an Axe recipe and a Watering Can recipe. Then he'll make a call to Blathers the Owl to tell him to come to your island to open a museum.

Decide where you want to plot the museum (I suggest somewhere close to your home base or the Shop). If you collect duplicates, feel free to sell them to Timmy and Tommy in the Resident Services tent.

PAY OFF TOM NOOK

Tom Nook will charge you 5,000 Nook Miles for moving to his island. It'll be fairly simple to rack up Nook Miles by completing tasks around the island. As soon as you pay it off, he will offer to build you a house. Just accept his offers and keep the loan payments going. Once you start harvesting, planting fruits and fishing, you'll be able to sell them for bells.

INCREASE INVENTORY SPACE

Acquire as many Nook Miles as you can and you will be able to purchase the Pocket Organization Guide for 5,000 Nook Miles. It will add another row to your inventory, which will come in handy for sure. You can also purchase the Tool Ring for 800 Nook Miles that will allow you to quick select tools from the D-Pad.

DONATE 15 FISH/BUGS TO BLATHERS FOR THE MUSEUM

Once Blathers the Owl arrives to your island, you will need to find 15 different species of bugs and fish to donate to him in order to construct the Museum. During this process, you'll obtain the recipe to construct a Flimsy Shovel and Vaulting Pole, which will come in handy to dig for fossils and cross over rivers.

Use the Flimsy Shovel to dig up Fossil Pieces, which will be underneath cracks in the grass. Collect as many as you can so you can donate them to Blathers later down the line.

USE NOOK MILES TICKETS

Tom Nook gives you a free Nook Miles Ticket that you can use to visit a random island filled with resources that you may/may not have. Harvest as many resources as you can. Use the shovel trick to hit big stones and collect various items like iron nuggets, clay, and stones. There might also be random island habitants that you can invite to live with you on the island. Invite whoever you like over (3 max) because it will help speed up the process to help you build your island.

FINISH NOOK'S CRANNY

You'll need to collect 30 Hardwood, 30 Softwood, 30 Wood, and 30 Iron Nuggets to help build the Nook's Cranny store. It will most likely take you a few days to do this, but my suggestion is to go to 4 different islands and use the Shovel and Stone trick to hit random stones. Once you turn them in, you'll basically be in a rat race to collect resources.

OPEN THE MUSEUM

After 3 days, Blather's Museum will be open for business, which means you can take everything you've collected and saving (bugs, fish, fossils) over to him for donation. You can sell all the duplicates to the Nook's Cranny and sell them off for bells.

BUILD A BRIDGE

The next time you talk to Tom Nook, he will mention to you that there are new people interested in moving to your island. He'll give you a recipe for a Wooden Bridge, but it will require a handful of wood to construct and you have to build it somewhere that can make room for it. If you've been playing consistently, you should have more than enough to build.

SELECT 3 HOUSING PLOTS AND BUILD FURNITURE FOR THE PLOTS

Once you plot your bridge, Tom Nook will give you three housing plots. Find an open area just like the process for building your own personal house would be like. Find enough room because these plots are huge.

Each of the three housing plots require 3 sets of interior and exterior furniture, which Tom Nook will give you the DIY steps to complete these tasks. If you've been harvesting clay, iron nuggets, and various other pieces of wood and weeds, it should be pretty simple. I would suggest purchasing Nook Tickets or visiting a friend's island to collect Wood, Stones, iron nuggets and clay.

You'll also unlock the recipe for the Ladder, which you can use to climb the steep areas that you couldn't reach before on your island. Once you've finished these tasks, speak to Tom Nook and wait for the next day for your new villagers to arrive.

WEEK 2

UPGRADE YOUR INVENTORY

After your first week on the island, the Resident Services tent will construct into a building. The best part about this is that you can make the final upgrade to your inventory. Go to the ABD machine and purchase the Ultimate Pocket Stuffing recipe for 8,000 Nook Miles.

BUILD A CAMPSITE

Once the Resident Services Building is constructed, the first major task will be to get K.K. Slider to come to your island and play a concert. Once he visits, you will have the ability to terraform your island. The first task is to build a Campsite. Speak to Tom Nook and he'll give you the recipe for the campsite, which you will need 15 of each wood and 15 iron nuggets. I would build it close to town so you can check to see who stops by every now and then.

FIND A PLOT FOR THE ABLE SISTERS CLOTHING STORE

If you find Mabel outside the town square selling clothes, talk to her. After visiting a few times, she will mention that she's interested in opening up a Clothing Store on your island with her sister. She'll actually give you the housing plot to find some land to build, so it's really up to you to decide where you want it located. Also, make it an effort to talk to Sable once every day. She's the one in the corner working on the sewing machine.

BUILD MORE BRIDGES AND INCLINES

Once you upgrade your Resident Service Building, you can start building more bridges (to cross rivers) as well as inclines (climbing cliffs without the use of a ladder). It can be expensive, but it saves you the time of pulling out items out of your inventory. This will greatly improve your town rating if you build more bridges and inclines, but you can only build one per day.

TALK TO YOUR CAMPER AT THE CAMPSITE

After you've set up your campsite, you might have to wait a while to check to see if someone has occupied your campsite. Whenever it is occupied, talk to the camper to see if you'd like them to stay in your town. It's completely random, but you'll definitely need to add as many campers as you can in order for your island to progress.

Once they agree, then go over to Tom Nook and he will give you a new housing plot to build. Whenever you place it, the camper will move in the next day.

BUILD MORE HOUSING PLOTS

Once you've placed your sixth housing plot, go back and talk to Tom Nook. He will sell you housing plots for 10,000 bells each. This is where you can be strategic and figure out how you want to place your houses. You can house a max of 10 plots on your island, so place them as soon as you can and make sure you know where you want to build. Otherwise, it'll cost you 50,000 bells to relocate a plot.

INCREASE ISABELLE'S TOWN RATING

As soon as a new villagers moves in to your island, speak to Isabelle at Resident Services. When you select "Let's talk about island evals", she will give you a town rating out of 5 stars. The more villagers your town has, the more your rating will increase.

At 2 stars, you can invite more villagers to reach the cap of 10. You won't need to fill up the island to 10 in order for K.K. Slider to come perform, but follow Isabelle's suggestions like plant more trees, flowers, fences, bridges and inclines.

From here, Tom Nook will give you the ability to terraform your island, create walkways, and digging rivers. As I mentioned before, there is no end goal to this game. It is basically up to you to decide what you want to do with your island experience and how you would like to live.

Have fun with your island, take advantage of the special events and make your island a place to call home! I've also included links below that helped me progress my island at a much faster rate and even become a bellionaire.